Royal Ascot will have Australian representation

There are few meetings anywhere in the world that are as famous as Royal Ascot. The pageantry and colourful outfits dazzle the audience but it is the quality of the horse on show that makes it an unmissable meeting for fans of the sport. 

There have been a good number of Australian raiders with plenty of wins between them at Royal Ascot in the past with the first coming in 2003. It is in one of the opening-day contests that the raiders have had such a remarkable record in so far and one of the runners in 2024 will contest the same race. The horse racing bookmakers will be busy across the world over the five days with punters loving the top quality action. 

Past Australian Royal Ascot winners 

In just a couple of decades, Australian runners have produced a remarkable record at Royal Ascot, especially in sprint races. Choisir was the first winner, winning both the King’s Stand and the Golden Jubilee Stakes in the same week in 2003.  
 
The King’s Stand would become the most-won race for Australian runners. Takeover Target would become a regular at the meeting, winning on his first visit in the 2006 renewal with Miss Andretti following up in 2007 before Scenic Blast won it in 2009. It was also the race that Nature Strip would win in 2022. 
 
The Diamond Jubilee would also see the incomparable Black Caviar raiding for a win in 2012. Both Starspangledbanner (2010) and Merchant Navy (2018) would be transferred to Aidan O’Brien shortly before they won the Diamond Jubilee. So You Think was another who moved to Ballydoyle before landing the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes in 2012. 

King Charles III Stakes 

Asfoora will line up on day one in the King Charles III Stakes, the race that was formerly known as the King’s Stand. It is a race that has seen five wins for Australia in the past with this always a good opportunity given the strength of Australian sprinters compared to their European counterparts. 
 
A prep race in the Temple Stakes at Haydock did not go the way that Henry Dwyer would have liked but she showed plenty of speed on the rain-softened ground to finish fourth. Three lengths off the winner was no more than a fair effort, especially as those who were in front of her were not really the cream of the crop in the UK.  
 
Conditions should be a little better underfoot next week. There is some rain forecast (of course there is, it’s summer in England) but the ground should not be close to as soft as it was at Haydock which has a reputation for being very tough when it is on the wet side. 

The Sandringham Handicap  

The other runner is a little more of a tenuous one in Kitty Rose who will contest the Sandringham Handicap on Friday. She has been in the care of Natalia Lupini in Ireland so far in her career but is now with the Mick Price and Michael Kent team. 
 
She was the winner of her first two career starts before finishing second when stepped up to Group 3 company. The winner that day would finish a length and a half fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf to frank the form.  
 
Kitty Rose was second on her only start so far in 2024 in another Group 3, the winner finishing second in the Irish 1000 Guineas. That looks like a strong run to bring into this handicap contest so she should run a big race.

The horse racing world is getting smaller with more runners from outside jurisdictions competing at the big meetings across the globe. This is great for the sport as a whole and we hope that the two Australian-trained runners can return with a pair of wins from Royal Ascot.